


Finis

by Mochas N Mayhem (KoohiiCafe)



Series: Bound in Story [26]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Trek, Star Trek: The Original Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-31
Updated: 2015-08-31
Packaged: 2018-04-18 06:39:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4695932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KoohiiCafe/pseuds/Mochas%20N%20Mayhem
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mr. Gordo Junior had always been her mom's, she'd never gone without him, she'd never even considered letting him go. But now she was, and her daughter knew why...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Finis

**Author's Note:**

> **Title:** Finis  
>  **Author:** Koohii Cafe  
>  **Rating:** General Audiences  
>  **Crossover:** BtVS/Star Trek: The Original Series  
>  **Disclaimer:** Since I am a poor chickadee with no wealth to speak of, I think it's safe to say that neither BtVS nor Star Trek: The Original Series are mine. ^^;  
>  **Written for:** [TtH](http://www.tthfanfic.org/) [August Fic A Day Challenge](http://forum.tthfanfic.org/index.php?topic=9537.0)  
>  **Summary:** _Mr. Gordo Junior had always been her mom's, she'd never gone without him, she'd never even considered letting him go. But now she was, and her daughter knew why..._  
>  **Author's notes:** Thank you guys so much for hanging through this series with me. I had no idea it would get this big, or go on like it has, but I am so happy that it has. I'm not done with it yet, there's still a _hell_ of a lot to do in this little 'verse, but I will be breaking for a bit after the marathon that was this month of writing. I hope you've enjoyed this series as much as I have!

"His name," she heard her mother's voice say, "is Mr. Gordo."

There was a thin arm wrapped around her grandson where he was cuddled into his great grandmother's bed with her. The other hand, held out before him, offered an old, worn, and well loved pig. Its plush fur wasn't quite the same pink it must have been a century ago, when Dawn's grandmother had made him, was a little bare in places, but it had been well cared for in that time, despite the long journeys she knew it had made with her mother. From San Francisco, to all around the quadrant, traveling with her mother as she'd toured in Starfleet, to back home here, at the farmhouse that had been in the family for generations.

"Mr... Gordo?" The toddler's answer was slow, as he tried to repeat the plush's name correctly, and he reached out to take it almost reverently. Well, as reverent as a three year old little boy could be. His golden-hazel eyes, so much like her father's that it hurt, were wide with wonder when her mother let him take it, and he pet one chubby little hand over its back gently.

"That's right," the other woman answered, and her hazel green eyes were warm with the memory. "Your great, great grandma made him for me, a long time ago, and now he's yours."

The words carved a part of Dawn's heart out. Mr. Gordo Junior had _always_ been her mom's, she'd never gone without him, she'd never even considered letting him go. But now she _was_ , and Dawn knew why... Knew what it meant, that she was giving him to little David, given the news that had so recently been delivered to their doorstep by a certain Starfleet captain.

"Ooooooooh," David cooed, and Dawn watched as her mother leaned forward to place a gentle kiss on the top of his head.

"I want you to take care of him for me, okay? Because as long as you take care of him, and keep him close, you'll never be alone. I'll always be with you."

"I will, mi'maw," he answered, as serious as a toddler could possibly be, and her mother smiled. Kissed the top of his head again, then gently rearranged him so that she could stand and tuck him into the bed alone. Already tired from the day they'd spent together, he let her do it quietly, holding tightly to the stuffed toy as if it was the most precious thing in the universe. Maybe it was.

"I love you, David. I always will." Her frail hand, thin, showing her age, ruffled his golden locks gently, and he was already falling asleep as she stepped away. Her eyes met Dawn's and she nodded at the door. Her chest tight, Dawn nodded back that she understood, and then followed her mother out of the bedroom and down the hall to the living area.

In front of the entrance door sat a small suitcase, waiting to be picked up and carried away. Normally, for any kind of trip, Mr. Gordo would have been tucked away there. That he wasn't, that he was laying in bed with the youngest of the Kirk family, said one thing very clearly that Dawn was fighting to ignore. Then her mother was stopping in front of the entryway, waiting for Dawn to join her, and reluctantly she did. She looked up slowly, to meet those hazel-green eyes, and began,

"Mom-"

"Dawnie, stop." _Dawnie_. Her mom never called her that, not unless it was serious. It had been her mom's nickname for the aunt Dawn had never met, she knew, and the use of it now sent a shudder down her spine.

"Mom, _please_ ," she started again, and again her mother cut her off.

"I _love_ you, Dawn. You know that."

"I know." The words were whispered, something stinging in her eyes, and she tried to fight them off. Tried to shove them down. "I love you too."

"I know." Frail hands were taking her shoulders, running down her arms, back up again, and they pulled Dawn close so her mother could press a kiss to _her_ forehead this time. "Your dad loved you too, you know. Very much."

Dawn nodded, mutely, because she didn't know if she could speak. Didn't know if she could form words without her voice wobbling dangerously, without giving in to the threatening tears. One hand reached up, to cup her cheek, and she closed her eyes and leaned into the touch for the moment, feeling like a child despite her age, because what she was about to lose...

"I need to see him, Dawn. One last time." Her voice was soft, but the words seemed to echo around them both, a heavy kind of finality to them. ' _One last time,_ ' her mother said. Three little words that meant far more than what they seemed to on the surface.

It was so easy to forget, how sick her mother was. How little time she had left. She always stood tall, stronger than one might expect from a woman her age, and she had a presence that just filled the room. She handled her age and her illness with an air that showed no weakness, no hint of her true condition. But Dawn knew. Leonard had made sure she knew, the old doctor familiar enough with her mother to know how the older woman would hide it otherwise. He'd done what he could for her, Dawn knew; she also knew her mother had been hanging on by sheer force of will. Waiting for... waiting for _this_ , she knew now.

Her father had disappeared seventy-eight years ago. Starfleet had proclaimed him dead, had hosted an elaborate ceremony to honor him, but her mother... Her mother had never accepted it. Somehow- her mother had _known_ he was still alive. She'd held on, _waited_ for him, and now...

" _I love you, mom_ ," she finally whispered, and the tears fell. "Tell him- tell dad I love him too."

"I will." Those last words, whispered, as she leaned in, to touch her forehead to her daughter's, and they stayed like that for several long minutes. Far too soon, though, the older woman pulled away. Then, reaching for the small suitcase to lift it, she tapped the badge affixed to her breast and called out,

"Kirk to Picard. One to beam up."

As her mother's form disappeared in a shower of light, starting out on her journey to James Kirk's grave on Veridian III, Dawn didn't need her mother's precognitive dreams to know she would never see her again.


End file.
